Tag Archives: USA Today

Last week it was reported that West Virginia was going to Big 12, and now it is official. There was some late swinging by Louisville to take their place but in the end West Virginia won out. I guess when politicians get involved, it can turn ugly. Louisville isn’t out the race yet. When the Big 12 looks to expand here in a couple of years, they will be next on the list. The next best thing to politicing is lawyering (he says sarcastically). West Virginia won the former and is now pushing the latter by suing the Big East on the grounds that the conference and their commissioner is crappy. I say they have a case. On to the Crib Sheet:

The ESPN/USA Today coaches preseason bowl came out and there’s no surprise with Oklahoma notched at number 1. That happened a couple of years ago and they lost their first game. Yup, it doesn’t matter who’s where right now, but what matters is that it’s the horn blasting the announcement that the college football season is ramping up for real now. Another thing to note, the Big 12/0 has half of their teams in the Top 25. Usually they have 6 but since a couple of teams left, they can only muster 5. Fair enough, on to this week’s Crib Sheet:

It’s national signing day! Okay, so it’s not that exciting, but we have some Big 12 updates flying in and I don’t want to take away from the exciting coverage. Usually half the kids that are worth something don’t pan out anyway. It’s a good thing that ESPN covers this overhyped event in the only way that ESPN can over hype. Now on to the Crib Sheet:

Another person involved in the Kansas ticket scandal, Charlette Blubaugh, plead guilty in court. Her husband will soon plead guilty as well. It looks like legal system works in the case of these folks.

ESPN’s Erin Andrews is kind of a freak of media exposure. By exposure I mean the nude video taped in the hotel room that begat her appearance on Dancing With the Stars. Now, she’s taking that controversy and lackluster sideline reporting to Reebok. Some journalists are complaining that this throws the ethics out the winder but I’m afraid they forgot that Andrews is more of a pretty face than an actual sports reporter.

Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder looked great in the Senior Bowl as he led the South over the North in a 24-10 victory. Texas A&M’s linebacker Von Miller had the defensive tops as well.

USA Today talks about the trend of colleges oversigning players. Schools will dole out scholarships only to revoke them later for someone else or make kids ‘greyshirt’, which means have them enroll in January instead of the fall. Florida president J. Bernard Machen agrees that greyhirting blows. They talk about how the kids are the victim of this. It looks like one more reason to pay the kids that play big time ball to me.

So last night’s Insight Bowl happened. I’m still sleepy from the late running game. Iowa held off Missouri for a 27-24 victory, with the biggest play in the game going to Blaine Gabbertt tossing a pick six in the 4th quarter to give Iowa the game. Later on there was controversial overturn to receiver T.J. Moe on 4th and 6. Really, the story of the game was a Tiger defense that let a 3rd string running back set an Iowa bowl record for rushing yards. Missouri’s offense chugged along fine except for a few mistakes. Overall, the team looked way less into than Iowa and I think the fight in the heart of the Hawkeyes made the score that we see today. Now let’s check out the bowl edition of the Crib Sheet:

Now that the whole Heisman thing is over, the AP is now okay with naming Auburn’s Cam Newton Player of the Year. WIll these awards be revoked in the next couple of years? Tune in and find out.

So you know how Mark Cuban’s flirting with college football? It turns out that a college football playoff system is actually patented. Now don’t get me started on how ridiculous the patent system is, but what I can tell you is that a patent on the college football playoff system just goes to show that we will never see a college playoff. The wolves will come out and tear everything up if they go this way. Again, it’s a case of doing nothing with the current system being the best course to route.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Happy holidays from KC College GameDay! It’s bowl season and I’ll do a couple of recaps in the next couple of days as well as run down some bowls I’m in to. In the meantime, we have a fat Crib Sheet so let’s get to it:

Meanwhile, the Nebraska Huskers suspended defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler for getting a DUI last week. He’ll be out of the Holiday Bowl and the Husker’s rematch against Washington.

Even though I think Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is evil incarnate, I do agree with him on holding back the college football playoff. His reasons come from a wealth of ego. Delany says that the Big Ten sacrificed enough by letting other conferences play in the Rose Bowl. There’s enough ego around other commissioners that there would be no way a playoff would bubble up.

Speaking of coaches, the USA Today has a break down of some interesting contract provisions for some of the coaches out there. Bill Snyder 2.0 gets a free ride and tickets to basketball games. If Mack Brown resigns, he’ll be reassigned to another a part of the school. Mike Sherman gets a cool $100K for appearing or being named a national champion.

Keeping with Bo Pelini, he had to shoot down rumors of taking the Miami job that’s up for grabs now. Usually, when rumors like that happen, it means that something is ticking. It makes sense, too. Miami got rid of an upstanding Randy Shannon because he wasn’t winning games. Shannon did turn around the program in terms of class act athletes. Bo Pelini coaches the opposite way.

So yesterday there was a big hoopla about Kansas coach Mark Mangino and his reported abuse of players earlier this year. What’s the abuse? From what we’re read so far it’s yelling and poking a player in the chest. Okay, so if this guy gets canned over just that, then it’s an indictment on the culture that is Kansas athletics. It’s college football people. If you don’t do your job, you will be disciplined. Now if it turns out he did more, then it’s more on Mangino’s wide shoulders and his lack to control his emotions. Our take? Kansas is in a losing streak and the fair weather, bandwagon, and easy to over hype their expectations players, player’s parents, and fans have shown their true colors. What coach will want to come there to lead a football team when the everyone at Kansas University whine and cry like a bunch on babies? Oh and superstar, Pullitzer prize winning Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock says this happened because Mark Mangino is fat. Great reporting there, guy. Here’s this week’s Crib Sheet:

USA Today has an article about the two biggest money making conferences, the SEC and Big 10. They fill up the media outlets. The SEC inked a deal with ESPN and they are pumped everywhere. Meanwhile, the Big 10 has their own flipping channel. The difference? The SEC is actually winning games. We’re tired of both conferences.

Speaking of Boise State, they are now selling stock in their program. Yes, a big time college program needs to generate money by offering shares in their program. Do you see Texas or Florida doing this? Nope. That’s because they actually have a fan base.

Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones banned their fight song at games because the students typically chant “the South will rise again” at the end. While the intent is to remove the stigma that the Rebels have regarding racial insensitivity, students chanting that the south will rise again seems a little small compared to other methods he could employ. Banning the use of the rebel flag (which they have) makes just a little more sense than banning the fight song, especially when it comes to recruiting players.